Premature panic

The Sacramento Bee ran a story headlined “Gas is getting more and more expensive. California lawmakers demand an investigation.”

The story, like most news coverage of gas prices, explores possible reasons for price levels, like “lack of competition in the refinery market.” What such stories do not explore is the notion that gas is not expensive.

In Zimbabwe, the government shut down the internet to impede communication and organizing of protests against gas prices there—$13 a gallon.

In Portugul, Norway, Denmark, Greece, Italy and the Netherlands gas is over $7 a gallon. In France, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany, Britain, Finland and Belgium, the price is over $6. In both Canada and Mexico, it is over $4.

Then there’s that nickel increase in the price of a postage stamp, which CBS and many others reported this way: “Largest Stamp Price Increase In Postal Service History Goes Into Effect Sunday.”

This means mailing a letter now costs 55 cents—compared to $1.14 in France, 84 cents in Germany, 72 cents in Japan.